A four-game road trip out west awaits, and the Buffalo Sabres have 76 games remaining, yet Craig Anderson wanted to acknowledge what they were able to accomplish on home ice Monday night.
“That’s the reigning Stanley Cup champs,” the 40-year-old goalie said after he made 35 saves in a 5-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning. “That’s a great hockey team over there.”
Despite the ongoing saga with Jack Eichel, and low external expectations following the departure of prominent contributors such as five-time 20-goal scorer Sam Reinhart, the Sabres are 4-1-1 and entered Tuesday sitting second in the Atlantic Division.
Don Granato has instilled belief in a roster that’s a blend of young, unproven core players and experienced castaways determined to show they can succeed when hard work is rewarded with opportunity. The challenge will increase in difficulty on the road where capacity crowds roar in approval at the Sabres’ mistakes and the other coach can use second line change.
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Granato and his players will remind you that it’s only been six games, but that shouldn’t spoil what’s occurred, including wins against the two Stanley Cup finalists from last season. Those watching from afar are wondering how this could be possible given all the franchise lost in the offseason. The answer can be found behind the bench, on the ice and in the dressing room.
“From day one, I mean, we know the group we have in here,” winger Vinnie Hinostroza said. “All hardworking guys, all guys that want to be better than where they’re at in their career. No one’s been satisfied with what they’ve done. I think that goes for the coaches, GM, owners, down to every player on our team. So, when you have a group like that that really wants to win and work hard for each other, you can accomplish a lot.”
1. Team defense
Granato’s brand of entertaining hockey was a welcome reprieve for the Sabres when he became interim coach last March. He wants quick breakout passes to start the rush and encourages his defensemen to pinch in the offensive zone. In many ways, it’s positionless, read-and-react hockey that allows speed and creativity to shine. It’s yielded encouraging results despite the absence of center Casey Mittelstadt.
Entering Tuesday, the Sabres were ninth in the NHL in shot attempts at 5-on-5 and 11th in shot-quality share at even strength, which shows they have the edge in scoring chances.
But the Sabres’ offense at 5-on-5 hasn’t been as impressive as their defense. They ranked sixth in limiting shot quality, according to Evolving-Hockey.com, and had the 10th-most takeaways. Granato, unlike his predecessor Ralph Krueger, doesn’t have a conservative, defensive-minded system. The Sabres are winning with an aggressive approach, hounding the puck as soon as they lose possession.
2. Goaltending
Anderson and Dustin Tokarski have formed a reliable tandem in goal, as their .951 save percentage at 5-on-5 was good for second in the NHL following games Monday.
The Sabres had allowed the fifth-most high danger scoring chances, according to NaturalStatTrick.com, yet they surrendered the ninth-fewest goals against at 5-on-5. They allowed the fourth-fewest goals per 60 minutes.
Tokarski, who won a roster spot in camp over Aaron Dell and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, ranks ninth in goals saved above expected, a metric that measures a goalie’s performances based on the quality of shots faced.
“This whole year we’ve had great goaltending, whether it’s Andy or Ticker,” Hinostroza said. “They’ve both been great. … When you have a guy like that, both those guys behind you, it just gives you so much confidence. You’re not afraid to make plays.”
3. The new guys
The Sabres received only one NHL player in return for losing Reinhart, Rasmus Ristolainen, Jake McCabe, Linus Ullmark and Eichel, although they have yet to trade the former captain.
Yet, General Manager Kevyn Adams’ offseason additions have made an immediate impact. Hinostroza, who received little ice time with Florida last season, has stabilized the top line alongside Dylan Cozens and should have more success offensively when he starts to shoot more.
Drake Caggiula, claimed off waivers by Buffalo last April after an unsuccessful stint in Arizona, returned on a one-year contract and has used his speed to make a difference at both ends of the ice. Anderson filled the void in goal, while the blue line was fortified by the additions of Mark Pysyk and Robert Hagg, who was the only NHLer acquired in the Ristolainen trade.
4. Stability on defense
Despite the injury to Henri Jokiharju, the Sabres are receiving mostly consistent play from their back end. Rasmus Dahlin has emerged as the team’s top defenseman, Jacob Bryson blossomed into a reliable option for the second pair and Colin Miller is playing well enough to be sought after ahead of the trade deadline. Will Butcher has also done well playing his off-handed side next to Dahlin.
But two other new guys have been standouts: Pysyk and Hagg. The duo has a 61.45% shot quality share at 5-on-5 and owns a plus-6 differential in on-ice high-danger scoring chances, despite receiving only two offensive-zone starts compared to 12 in the defensive zone.
When the Sabres needed a pair to handle the Lightning’s top line Monday night, Granato turned to Pysyk and Hagg, who limited Steven Stamkos and company to four shot attempts in more than five minutes of 5-on-5 ice time.
5. Leadership
The Sabres have established a clear, relentless on-ice identity through following Granato’s consistent messaging, but he’s not in this alone. When the Sabres were faltering against Tampa Bay, Anderson skated over to the bench during each TV timeout to provide calming words to his teammates.
Hagg, Pysyk, Caggiula, Kyle Okposo, Zemgus Girgensons also have carved out leadership roles.
“The belief system, you know, I talked about it from day one … we had to change the belief system,” Granato said. “That’s the No. 1 thing we had to do. We still have to do it. We don’t have any long body of work on this. So, it’s still a major work in progress. But (Monday), obviously is one more night of hopeful reassurance that you can do things and the core guys, the core older guys really, really are key in that.”
